Early bowl thoughts

I just put up the bowl schedule, so take a look (or find an exact replica on ESPN.com, Yahoo Sports, CBS sportsline...).

• Too much

I absolutely love bowl season.  Unusual football matchups stir the collective pot in college football, and reveal to us just a little bit more about each team that we might not have learned in the regular season.  Having nonstop games from December 20^th to January 4^th (well, if you ignore that odd New Year's break) is a blessing.

That said, I'd gladly excommunicate a few games to create more favorable matchups and do away with a few bowl game carp (bottom dwellers).

Look at how many 6-5 teams are participating this year: 13.  Of those, none are all that exciting.  I have some lenience for smaller-conference teams who don't have these kinds of regular opportunities (South Florida, Kansas), but do we really need to see another bad game involving North Carolina State, Colorado State, Virginia or Missouri?

• Good, bad, overhyped, underrated, meh
  

Me Likey:

• GMAC Bowl: UTEP vs. Toledo
• Holiday Bowl: Oregon vs. Oklahoma
• Sun Bowl: Northwestern vs. UCLA
• Cotton Bowl: Texas Tech vs. Alabama
• Gator Bowl: Louisville vs. Virginia Tech
• Fiesta Bowl: Notre Dame vs. Ohio State
• Rose Bowl: USC vs. Texas

Bah humbug:

• New Orleans Bowl: Southern Miss vs. Arkansas State
• Poinsettia Bowl: Colorado State vs. Navy
• Fort Worth: Kansas vs. Houston
• Meineke Car Care Bowl: South Florida vs. North Carolina State
• Champs Sports Bowl: Clemson vs. Colorado

Overrated:

• Insight Bowl: Arizona State vs. Rutgers
• Alamo Bowl: Michigan vs. Nebraska
• Peach Bowl: Miami vs. LSU
• Outback: Iowa vs. Florida
• Sugar Bowl: West Virginia vs. Georgia
• Orange Bowl: Penn State vs. Florida State

Underrated:

• Hawai'i Bowl: Nevada vs. UCF
• MPC Computers Bowl: Boise State vs. Boston College
• Music City Bowl: Minnesota vs. Virginia
• Independence Bowl: South Carolina vs. Missouri
• Liberty Bowl: Tulsa vs. Fresno State
• Capital One Bowl: Wisconsin vs. Auburn

Ambivalent:

• Las Vegas Bowl: BYU vs. California
• Motor City Bowl: Memphis vs. Akron
• Emerald Bowl: Georgia Tech vs. Utah
• Houston Bowl: TCU vs. Iowa State

• What are you doing New Year's... New Year's Day?

Apparently nothing.  There will be no bowl games played on New Year's Day this year.  There won't be a Rose Bowl Parade, either.

• Five places

Five best bowl locations:

1. Pasadena, CA
2. Miami, FL
   
3. San Diego, CA
   
4. Honolulu, HI
5. Las Vegas, NV

Five places of bowl banishment:

1. Boise, ID
2. Shreveport, LA/Lafayette, LA
3. Detroit, MI
   
4. El Paso, TX
5. Mobile, AL

• Don't hold me to this

Early, completely uninformed (until I do a little more studying) game picks:

• USC over Texas
• Penn State over Florida State
• Georgia over West Virginia
• Notre Dame over Ohio State
• Auburn over Wisconsin
• Virginia Tech over Louisville
• Florida over Iowa
• Alabama over Texas Tech
• Miami over LSU
• Oregon over Oklahoma
• Boise State over B.C. (it's the blue turf, dammit!)

Incomplete list.

Comments

[GinnFan]

RA,

Agree with most of your picks, I think they look pretty good. However, I think I'd take Iowa over Florida, LSU over Miami, and maybe even Oklahoma over Oregon. Tough to say on the Oklahoma Oregon though.

[CFR]

Not bad.

I'd probably argue most with your LSU choice. They do have a more veteran QB in Russell over Wright, I guess. To me it looks like a game where two teams aren't that good at running the ball, aren't all that good at it to begin with, and have sloppy pass offenses. It's going to be a grand mess I'd rather avoid watching.

[SystemsDude]

Full slate of predictions and commentary on the bowl season at http://systemsdudeslogic.blogspot.com/2005/12/college-bowl-predictions-2005.html